In a precedent-setting decision, the body that regulates Saskatchewan’s nurses has said a nurse who posted on Facebook about her grandfather’s health care experience is guilty of professional misconduct.

In February 2015, Prince Albert nurse Carolyn Strom posted a news article about end-of-life care on her personal Facebook page and then commented about the “subpar care” her grandfather had received at a Macklin health facility. The post was brought to the attention of staff there, who filed a complaint with the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association (SRNA).

Strom defended herself at a two-day hearing in Regina this past February — the SRNA’s first disciplinary hearing about nurses’ behaviour on social media. She argued the SRNA’s code of ethics did not apply to her when she posted on Facebook because she was not part of her grandfather’s health care team and wrote the post on a personal page. She said it’s important for people to discuss health care issues and argued her right to free speech would be violated if she was found guilty of professional misconduct.

The SRNA disagreed.

In a written decision published this fall, the SRNA pointed out that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is not absolute. It also stated that courts across Canada have found regulated professionals guilty of professional misconduct because of things they have done in their private lives.

Pending the outcome of a penalty hearing that has not yet been scheduled, Strom could be expelled or suspended from the SRNA or face some other form of sanction, such as a fine.

Strom’s lawyer, Marcus Davies, said he will appeal the decision after the penalty hearing.

“(The SRNA) have over-punished, over-sanctioned and responded inappropriately to a discussion on health care and they have held (Strom) to a standard that I think few of us would expect ever to be held to. You can’t comment on your own grandparent?” he said.

“If you remove nurses from a discussion of health care — which this decision effectively does — nurses will be reluctant or frightened to engage in a frank discussion of health care in public. Then you’ve made the discussion less valuable.”

If the decision stands, it could have repercussions for other self-regulating professions such as doctors, accountants and lawyers, Davies said.

The SRNA said Strom, who identified herself as a nurse in her Facebook post, harmed the reputation of nursing staff at the Macklin facility, which runs contrary to the SRNA’s broad code of ethics.

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